Discuss the Involvement of Patroclus in Trojan War.

Involvement of Patroclus in Trojan War

Patroclus is a minor Character in The Iliad. However, he is the most intimate friend of Achilles. We rarely see Patroclus as an individual. But he alone can churn the emotion of Achilles. The death of Patroclus has brought in a sea change in the entire episode. So long Achilles is watching the war like a silent spectator. But the death of Patroclus brings about vital change. Achilles realizes that his

inaction is responsible for his friend’s death. He wants to appease his fury by punishing Trojans, particularly venting his ire on Hector. After the death of Patroclus, Achilles realizes for the first time that glory is no longer a matter of individual satisfaction. After the death of Patroclus his dearest friend, he admits, ‘destiny for us both to stain the same Soil’. Now Achilles is able to accept his own morality.

 

You Can also Read:

• “The Iliad” as a Primary Epic

• Real Hero in The Iliad

 

Discuss the Role of the Nurse in Phaedra.

Role of the Nurse in Phaedra

The Nurse is an important character in Seneca’s Phaedra. Some cities have called her an admirable foil to Phaedra. The Nurse stands by her, helps Phaedra in her difficulty and gives wise advice and makes her aware of the consequences of her love for her stepson, Hippolytus. Phaedra is rationally aware that her love is impious, but her emotions force her to seek its fulfillment or else to choose death. The Nurse is shocked by Phaedra’s reaction and immediately tries to deflect her from her impulse to commit suicide. When Phaedra shows her determination to die, the Nurse desperately incites her to forget about her reputation, and she charges herself with the duty to try to convince Hippolytus to answer Phaedra’s feelings. In Seneca’s play, the Nurse plays a conspicuously more active role n her relationship with Phaedra and that is why, the nurse has been called an admirable foil. She causes Phaedra. In her emotionally unstable condition, to behave in a way that will prove to be fatal for both herself and Hippolytus, it is she who inspires Phaedra to reveal her feelings to Hippolytus. When he predictably responds in a negative way, it is she who devises the plot to pass the buck to Hippolytus. She shares Phaedra’s responsibility for his death. The Nurse, generally, is an elderly woman acting as a governess or compassion in charge of a young woman of an aristocratic family. She is in charge of Phaedra, her mistress. She is trusted in Phaedra’s private affairs. She consoles or advises her troubled heroine.

 

Evaluated Medea was a Tragic Heroine.

Medea was a Tragic Heroine

Medea was the daughter of a king of Colchis, a land of mystery and magic. According to Symonde she “unfolded like some poisonous flower, gorgeous to look upon, with flaunting petals and intoxicating scent, but deadly”. In the play Medea, she exhibits a deep passion for revenge, but she is not considered to be a symbol of violence and fury. Euripides has studied human character and showed a human character may be monstrous and evil, but it is not without human touch. Medea kills her children to teach Jason a formidable lesson but we cannot forget that she has been wronged deeply. She has loved too well, but not wisely. The human feeling is never lost sight of in the characters of Euripides.

 

Consider Medea as a Revenge Tragedy

Medea as a Revenge Tragedy

The Revenge Tragedy as its name implies is a tragic play in which the tragedy results from the revenge that is taken for some wrong or wrongs. It is either by the person wronged or someone else on his behalf. This kind of tragedy has its beginning in ancient Greece in the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides. However, in their tragedies there was nothing of that horror element which soon came to be associated with the revenge play.

 

Discuss The Frogs as a Drama of Ideas?

The Frogs as a Drama of Ideas

The Frogs is a remarkable comedy of Aristophanes. It may be termed as a comedy of ideas. It is the happy idea on which it depends. The very idea of this play is to find the Athenians happy and peaceful. Aristophanes wanted to discard violence of all kinds. He did not want that human society and human life would degenerate and the nobler virtues of life would be lost sight of. After the passing away of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides the standard of the drama fell miserably and that was why Dionysus wished to go to the underworld and bring back Euripides to fill up the void created by their death. Euripides was a fashionable writer and a realist. There were, of course, other writers and poets, but they were not up to the mark.